Hello, my name is Kimberly Perry
and I was born and raised in Denver, Colorado.
Growing up as a child, I often wondered what if I could grow up and
become a super “shero”. I did not want
the itchy tights or the flowing locks of hair; I just wanted to do good things,
just like my mother. Back when I was a kid,
I remember seeing my mom rise to the occasion when my aunt passed away and her
three girls moved in with us, for a total of six young girls in our
household. Often watching my mom fall
asleep while braiding hair, I always wondered what I could do to help her. This though stuck with me all the way to and
through college where I received my B.S.
as a child protection worker. While
in college, I worked at a battered women shelter and my first job out of
college was at a children’s group home. I realized very quickly in life that I was not
going to be a super shero, but I could brighten people’s day.

While in college, I met my soul
mate Danny Perry and we were married in 1998.
In 2002 my husband, daughter, and I moved from Denver, to Houston where
I fell in love with all the wonderful plants, culture and the genuine kindness
of Houstonians. Within one year of
moving I opened a custom framing business, which was, a lot of fun but my heart
never left social work.
I begin volunteering with a local produce coop and a couple years later began
my own organic produce coop, which has been going strong for the past 4+
years. In 2011, I began a non-profit with
a mission to teach families how to garden without using chemicals.

Explain what type of business
you operate?

I currently run a fresh produce cooperative called “Healthy Habits
Co-op, in Houston, TX, and I also run a non-profit organization called “Healthy
Habits” that teaches families how to garden and grow their own fresh
produce. The produce cooperative
distributes fresh fruits and vegetables bi-weekly and operates in a collective
manor. In short, I have gathered a group
of families within our community, we all chip in a flat amount and purchase as
much local, and organic produce as we can with the funds collected, which gives
the members who have chipped in two nice big bags of fresh produce. However, with over 500 families who have
joined within the past four years I cannot accept the credit for introducing
everyone to the coop. In fact, we have
never launched a marketing campaign at all.
The vast majority of our members join all based on word of mouth.

Our newly launched non-profit works hand-in hand with the co-op to
accomplish something that has been important to me prior for more than ten
years now which is to teach families how to build a garden. The non-profit has aimed to teach not only
children but also entire families how to garden utilizing their backyard. I chose the backyards of families because it
is something that did not require tons of moving pieces, and that family can
use it permanently.

How long have you been in
business?

Our cooperative has been in business for nearly five years and our
non-profit officially begin in January 2012

How did you get the name for
your business?

The name came to me fairly easy, after pondering different names with
the Co\Founder. We chose the word
Healthy because we were attempting to provide something healthy to the
community and included the word Habit because we wanted those eating practices
to become a habit, hence the name “Healthy Habit”.

What motivated you to start this
type of business?

I started these two businesses for several reasons. One of which is because the average age of
the Texas farmer is now 59 years old and unfortunately as these farmers retire
the younger generation is not replacing them.
With this current trend I was forced to wonder if we as a country will
one day have no option but to depend on foreign countries to supply our food, even
more important will the skill of farming be lost. Another reason why I begin this program is because
many regions of Houston are notoriously lacking in grocery stores and healthy
food choices for residents of the area.
This factor has served to compound the obesity crisis affecting many of
our families, and the resulting health issues associated with the consumption
of too many non-healthy, processed foods.
The dearth of access to fresh, fruits and vegetables further exacerbates
the issues. (Regina: Your heart is in the same place as First Lady Michelle Obama, she is also big on gardens and fresh fruits and vegetables, and fighting obesity!)

As far as the co-op, it unofficially began in 2008 when my family fell
on hard times and affording organic produce became a treat. While making school lunch for my little girl
I found that paying $2 for a box of honeybuns would last all week compare to
paying $1 for one Fuji apple that would be gone in a day. I sat down and with my co\partner and dear
friend Michelle Hernandez who has since moved to Chicago we decided to begin a
co-op within our community.

The challenge was to find a facility in our community that would allow
us to distribute vegetables twice a month and to find 40 families who would
participate consistently, and we were blessed to find both.

What are your top
5 must have business tools/aids?

I LOVE “Google docs”. I must
have my “smart phone”. Something as
basic as “the internet”. My entire
business is run on-line. I love blogger,
and lastly my trusty laptop, the world is not the same without it. (Regina: I agree! Without my internet & laptop... I don't know what I would do!)

Where do you see your business
in 5 years?

If the lord says the same. Five
years from now my hope is to have set up a least 100 gardens within the city of
Houston. I see my business inspiring
hundreds of families to making eating healthy a habit. My hope is to earn a good annual income and
employ five people on a regular basis to work with me.

What inspires you?

Every spark of goodness all around inspires me. I am inspired that God shows us mercy every
day. My mother who is my “shero”
inspires me. I am so inspired by my husband’s
excitement when I am happy and his unwavering love appreciation, dedication and
support. I am inspired by my teenager’s
invincible love, and her smile. My coop member’s
continuous appreciation, all my family who support me unconditionally, and I cannot
forget about all the wonderful people I meet in passing, who say kind words and
do kind things. (Regina: I definitely understand how family can inspire!)

Who is your business icon or
who’s business ethic do you admire?

The person I admire the most is my husband Danny Perry. He has been running his own non-profit called
“TechCorps Texas” for ten years now and has helped thousands of families, and
especially schools and children. He
works endlessly wearing many hats, grant writing, teaching, and setting up computer
labs. In fact, this summer he offered a
water robotics camp to minority middle school age “girls only” at no charge. How can you not admire that?

If you were standing in front of
a room full of hopeful, promising, entrepreneurs what would you say to them?

Do what you love, build on the skills you have and remember to give
back. Respect our beautiful planet, and
stop to smell the roses. Do not lose
confidence if something does not succeed, keep trying. Set competition aside and work on your ideal
being the best that you can make it. Remember
to smile, say hello to strangers and forgive. Finally yet importantly, I would say travel,
even if it is across town. Traveling has
a special and unique way to inspire.

Is there anything you would like
to add?

No that is it…..Thanks Regina for caring enough to write about others J

Thank YOU Kimberly for helping others in this way! I hope this interview raises awareness and generates you some donations!

My Fort Worth, TX Weather...

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This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact Regina at (geegeejegar@gmail.com).This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions, products or free advanced books, and other forms of compensation.The owner of this blog is sometimes compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner of this blog may receive compensation for posts or advertisements, I always give my honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own and are NOT always favorable. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.The owner of this blog would like to disclose the following existing relationships. These are individuals that may have a significant impact on the content of this blog. I blog about people to whom I am related. The most interesting such people are: My Family hence the name Regina's Family Seasons! Other than my family I blog about whatever or whom ever I want to blog about!